About The Cover

ONLINE COVER Sticking Together. Shown are human urothelial cells stained for cytoskeletal proteins vinculin (red) and actin (green), with nuclei shown in blue. Vinculin helps adjacent urothelial cells attach to each other by forming focal adhesions, seen here as red dots at the edges of the cells. Actin filaments also participate in the adhesion process by forming structures called stress fibers within the cells, seen here as thin green lines. Lüthje and colleagues demonstrate that estrogen stimulates the formation of intercellular adhesions in the bladder wall and decreases the loss of cells lining the urinary tract during infections. See also the accompanying Focus by Hannan et al. [CREDIT: P. LÜTHJE, P. ASPENSTRÖM AND A. BRAUNER/KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET]